My outdoor adventures in the Last Frontier

My First Run In Alaska!

Hi everyone! The past few weeks have been so crazy but things have finally started settling down a tiny bit. I’m hoping I can get back into my normal blogging routine by next week. And I’m honored that so many people have been nominating me for Liebster Awards! I promise I’ll give you all shout outs and do one as soon as I can! It’s nice to know that people are still reading this blog even though it’s been so off-topic lately!

Yesterday Andrew and I got to spend our day at work taking a whale watching tour in Resurrection Bay! There is seriously nothing like getting paid to be on a boat staring at whales, sea otters, seals, puffins, sea lions, porpoises, and bald eagles!

Resurrection Bay

Humpback whales! We saw so many, as well as Grey Whales!

Having too much fun at work 🙂

That little rock is COVERED in sea lions! They were so loud!

A bear at Bear Glacier. Raaaaar!

After getting off work I finally realized that it was actually early enough to call my parents! This 4 hour time difference thing is seriously killing me. On a normal work day I’ll get off at 6:00pm AST which is 10:00 back home so I can really only call people on my days off. Then we went shopping at Safeway which is a legitimate grocery store! It’s amazing how my standards have changed since traveling the Alaska Highway. But this place was just like any grocery store at home, just with crazier prices. We are going to buy as many non-cold food items in Anchorage to save some money – we should be going back there every few weeks to get food, supplies, and to check out the area before we move there. I’m just so happy to finally have fresh fruits and veggies again! We went hard on some green beans last night since it was the first time we were able to cook dinner in a while! And then we took a 1.5 hour walk all over Seward. It’s a pretty big town for being at the literal end of the road/railroad system and I loved getting to explore it! Plus we really need to get more exercise after that road trip!

Today was our first “real” day at work and it was kind of intense. There are so many tours and options that I can book for our visitors and learning how to correctly input things was tough! But I think Andrew and I are getting the hang of it and tomorrow we will be shadowing people out in the office! It also doesn’t hurt that we can eat lunch right out on the harbor! Sitting in the warm sun watching the boats come in and out was pretty awesome, and I get to do it every day now!

The view from my lunch bench!

And then as soon as we got off work I told Andrew that I was finally going to go for a run! If you’ve ever taken a break from running, even if it was just for a few weeks, you probably will understand me when I say that it’s kind of tough to do that first run back. That first run makes you feel out of shape, tired, and in my case fat from all the crap you’ve been eating since you stopped running. It’s not a really great feeling. But I knew I had to get out there and today’s weather really helped to push me out the door! I ran the same route we walked yesterday and while I didn’t stop to skip rocks in the bay or to look for sea otters I did take it slow and tried to enjoy the views! So enjoy selfie run #2: Seward edition!

Running along the mountains…

…and along the bay…

…and along the Iditarod Trail! (sorry for the face, it was really sunny!)

The route was roughly 3.1 miles so it’s probably going to be my go-to route for a while until I build up my stamina again! I’m not going to lie, the run was really tough. My lungs felt really weird and I accidentally turned my ankle when I stepped off the trail for a second, and I really wasn’t having much fun. And then in mile 2 I started to finally find my rhythm and I remembered why I really love running in the first place! I’m going to try to run as much as I can while the weather is this nice and hopefully I won’t be so out of shape after a few more runs! Plus I just want any excuse that I can take to run along the bay!

Have you ever taken a break from running? How did you get back into it? Do you have any suggestions for making healthy meals when food is so expensive?

OMG yeah that race is no joke. I did in fact see some of the course the other day when I was walking in town and it it terrifying! I can actually see Mt. Marathon from my window right now and I can’t even describe how steep it looks. I will hopefully hike it one day, but will probably not be running it ever! I’ll be sure to blog about the race after it happens!

It is gorgeous up there! I’m loving all the pretty pics 🙂
My biggest tip when getting back into running shape is to not pay attention to your pace- leave the watch at home. It’s so easy to get discouraged when you see that your not hitting the same paces you used to. Just run for fun for a while. Good thing you have a scenic route to run while you get back to it!

I guess the flat part of town (where I ran) is at sea level since it’s right next to the bay which lead out to the sea? I think I just feel terrible since I’ve been eating horribly and not really drinking enough since I was afraid of peeing my pants on the road trip! Hopefully I’ll feel better after I get my eating habits straightened out!